ROCKINGHAM — Following last week’s N.C. Department of Environmental Quality air permit hearing, 10 residents addressed data center development during public comment at the Aug. 4 Richmond County Board of Commissioners meeting, filling the typically sparse room and leaving some attendees seated in the jury section.
Chairman Jeff Smart explained that the meeting’s open forum is limited to 30 minutes, which would have given each speaker a “little over two minutes.” With 12 people signed up to speak, however, Smart said he spoke with the other commissioners and the board agreed to allow each person four minutes.
“I’ve talked to the commissioners before the meeting and instead of cutting off just at two minutes, we want to hear what you have to say and most people can’t say it just a little a little over two minutes,” Smart said.
Calls for transparency and a pause to additional data center development were recurring themes throughout the public comment period.
“There has been no transparency due to the NDAs that have been signed in secret, keeping the public in the dark,” said Suzzette Baker.
Baker also referenced property purchased on County Home Road in late July by Digital Realty and raised concerns about the potential environmental effects of development in the area.
“Our region here has specific things like purple honey. That’s something that requires an environment — an ecosystem — for it to actually exist,” Baker said. “It’s the only place in the world where it’s made.”
Baker reminded commissioners that they hold elected positions and called for an immediate moratorium on data center development.
“Although we have Bryan Land as appointed manager, each of you county commissioners are elected positions and this is an election year. We are looking forward to seeing how you’re going to react and how you’re going to be going forward with a lot of this. We would like to see an immediate emergency moratorium on all data centers and site approvals,” Baker said.
Russ Fincham raised concerns about the process surrounding the Blue Marlin project, which was later identified as an Amazon Web Services development and approved by commissioners last year.
“It wasn’t done properly. You had a public comment period… and someone at the courthouse put on Facebook that the meeting had been canceled, so no one came,” Fincham said.
Fincham also referenced the DEQ air permit hearing and said he hoped the permits would get “turned down, but you know how government works.”
He asked commissioners to consider a 12-month moratorium on additional data center development, including a potential project on County Home Road, and requested an answer from the board during the meeting.
“It’s gonna be difficult ‘cause Amazon’s gonna sue you. We don’t care. How much you got to pay? You got plenty of money ‘cause you sold them land. Use that money, and then we’ll give you some,” Fincham said. “That’s okay. But if you can’t do that, the minimum requirement we’re gonna accept is good fortune and good favor because we ask you now to work with us so that we can get back together and work together.”
Sarina Perry, a homeschool mother of a child with special needs, followed Fincham and asked the board to address Fincham’s proposal.
Under the county’s public appearance policy, public comment is not intended to require commissioners to answer impromptu questions. The policy states that commissioners generally refrain from engaging in dialogue with speakers except when clarification is necessary and may refer questions or concerns to the county manager for follow-up.
“I’ll take that as a no— put that on the record,” Perry said.
Perry focused much of her comments on what she believes could be the effects of data center noise and other environmental factors on children with special needs.
“As a special needs mother, I’ve spent years researching and advocating to get basic support and needs for my child. God has always moved mountains for my child, and I have faith he’ll do it again,” Perry said. “…the noise pollution from these data centers registers at around 90 decibels— anything around 85 decibels is harmful to human hearing. Fun fact, some special needs individuals struggle with auditory processing disorders, as well as sensory processing disorders, as well as having acute hearing ability, detecting low decibels … that most people cannot detect.”
Perry also raised concerns about potential air, light and water pollution and said some people with special needs may be particularly sensitive to environmental changes.
“Any small change can trigger a negative physical response. This affects everyone in and around Richmond County, as well as all of those children that are about to go to L.J. Bell,” Perry said. “Parents may have to withdraw their children once they realize it’s no longer about thriving academically, but surviving childhood altogether.”
She also discussed the region’s purple honey and expressed concerns about potential effects of data center development on bees and pollination.
“Ten billion dollars is a lot of money— but at what cost?” Perry asked. “Our water, our air, our land, our homes, our lives and our children’s future are not up for sale.”
While most speakers expressed opposition or concerns about data center development, Derek Howell was the lone speaker to voice support for the Amazon Data Center project.
“There are some valid concerns with the data centers, but I’m probably going to say something that other people would probably not want to say tonight. I do appreciate you guys, I do. And I can tell you, as a business owner in this county for 18 years, if I was approached with the same deal, I don’t know that I would vote no,” Howell said.
Howell pointed to Richmond County’s economic history as a reason he understood the commissioners’ decision.
“The reason being is because economic growth has been very bad here… Textiles has went, everything went… So I appreciate you guys looking for a solution to bring economic growth back. I know everybody might not like that, but let’s face it, that’s where we’re at in this county.”
“So here’s the deal. If it didn’t happen here, it would happen somewhere else, so what are you gonna do about that?” Howell said.
The remark prompted responses from audience members, leading Smart to bang his gavel and ask the crowd to allow Howell to speak. Smart warned that those who continued interrupting could be escorted from the meeting.
Howell then questioned commissioners about when they learned Amazon was behind the project.
“Did y’all know exactly what Amazon was when it was brought forward? You can answer, the 10 of y’all can answer. Because I’m tired of hearing people say, ‘well, they knew it. They sold us out. They did this.’ Let’s find out,” Howell asked.
Howell also asked whether commissioners, if they knew the company’s identity, believed the project would negatively affect the county.
“I don’t think y’all would vote something in that would be bad for the county. I don’t think any of y’all got y’all’s pockets padded like everybody’s saying… We can point the finger at you guys, but at the end of the day, hey, you guys were looking for economic growth. That’s what you were doing, okay. So I appreciate that,” Howell said.
Despite his support for the existing AWS project, Howell said he did not believe the county needed two additional data centers.
“There’s a lot of problems, and there’s solutions to the problems, but fighting about it ain’t gonna solve nothing,” Howell said. “I don’t think we need two more by no means… We got the one that’s here. It’s here. We’re gonna have to live with it.”
Steve Coulthard, who is with the County Home Road Coalition Against Data Centers, told commissioners that his family has lived in the area for seven decades and that nine families have lived there for more than 50 years.
“We aren’t temporary residents. We aren’t looking to sell out and leave. We are the actual fabric of Richmond County,” Coulthard said. “We trusted the people we voted into these seats to protect our homes, our jobs and our way of life, but right now, we feel completely abandoned by them.”
Coulthard noted that the County Home Road property is across from the former Ninth Grade Academy, which is expected to temporarily serve L.J. Bell Elementary students while a new school is built and eventually house Monroe Avenue Elementary students.
“So our elementary kids will be going to school every day, right across from this massive industrial campus. These aren’t just big buildings. These are massive AI data campuses, consume millions of gallons of our local water, strain our power grid and drive up utility costs for our families,” Coulthard said.
He also expressed concerns about the potential economic effects of artificial intelligence.
“Even worse, the AI systems being built inside these server farms are explicitly engineered to automate human tasks and take away jobs. They’re taking our land, threatening our livelihoods…”
Coulthard became emotional as he described what he believes development could mean for residents’ daily lives.
“This development will mean extreme noise, air, and possible water pollution. It will destroy our quality of life, our very way of life,” Coulthard said. “We are not going to sit back and watch our 70-year heritage get paved over by server grids.”
In closing, Coulthard asked commissioners to pass an immediate six-month moratorium on data center zoning, approvals and construction activity in Richmond County.
November Coffey, who started an online petition seeking a 12-month moratorium on additional data center development in the county, excluding the AWS project already under construction, also urged commissioners to pause further development.
“We’ve got the Amazon Data Center right here in our yard. So, let’s see how that goes for a year, before we zone, permit, or allow any other development… And if that goes well, fire it up. Let’s have another one, but let’s get there first,” Coffey said.